Borrego Springs, Calif.–The Raptor promises to be the most off-road-capable F-150 Ford has ever built. This pickup is like a street-legal Baja prerunner. In other words, the SVT Raptor promises to smooth out the worst high-speed desert terrain, fly over jumps and handle slow-speed four-wheeling better than just about any production truck. Tall order? Perhaps not.

We had a chance to spend a day riding along with the SVT team as they put a group of preproduction Raptors through an arduous development loop in the California dessert. So how does this truck handle extreme off-road conditions? Let's find out.

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The Specs

The $38,995 Raptor is based on a 4WD F-150 Super Cab with a 5.5-foot bed. So there are quite a few components shared with the standard-issue F-150 range. Under the hood is Ford's 320-hp 5.4-liter V8 that generates 390 lb-ft of torque and is paired to a six-speed automatic. The differentials are conventional F-150. But an electronic locking rear differential is standard as are 4.10:1 gears that turn beefy 315/70R17 (35-inch) BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A tires. And to cover the rubber, the bodywork skins are heavily flared.

Big tires are helpful to improve off-road ground clearance. But the key to the Raptor's capability is its suspension. The SVT team widened the F-150's track by 7-inches–measured at the center of the tire tread–with new upper and lower control arms. The lower control arms are chamfered like a skidplate, so rocks can slide underneath without hanging the truck up. The half-shafts, usually a weak link in independent front suspension 4WD trucks, are not only longer, but also more durable than the standard-issue units.

This added width gave engineers the platform to increase wheel travel. So now there's a total of 11.2-inches of travel up front and 13.4-inches in the rear. The suspension provides about an inch of lift too. To allow the Raptor to glide over obstacles and take the punishment of hard landings, the SVT team chose specifically tuned internal-bypass Fox Racing shocks and micro-cellular urethane bump stops.

Though the Raptor's 4WD system is mechanically similar to a standard-issue F-150, the SVT team incorporated advanced electronics to increase the capability. The stability control system has a sport mode that shuts off the traction control, and a "full off road" mode, that cuts all stability control functions and switches the ABS to an off-road setting. In full off-road mode, the electronic locking rear differential will remain locked at higher speeds too–so the Raptor acts like a prerunner with a spool for easy power slides. Like some modern off-road vehicles, the Raptor has a hill descent control system. But this system can match the speed you choose with the throttle, from 1.6-mph up to around 18 mph.

The Ride

It was pure torture. We had a full day with the Raptor on some of the best terrain in the California desert–and we were relegated to the passenger seat. Ford won't let anyone outside the development team behind the wheel of the Raptor until a drive event later this year. Still, we learned a lot riding shotgun.

The team used a 62-mile loop to both tune and validate the durability of the Raptor. In fact, they completed two full 1000-mile torture tests using this route. And every time the team returned to home base at the end of the loop, they hit a massive tabletop jump–clearing 2 to 3 feet under the rear axle. Sounds like a good day at the office to us.

From the right seat, it seems like that extreme tuning has paid off. SVT Vehicle Development Engineer Gene Martindale is a lead foot. He plants the throttle to the floor as we enter a sandy, rutted trail and doesn't lift when we approach berms and off-camber shelves. We grit our teeth and brace for the impact. But instead of crashing down onto the bump stops like an ordinary pickup might, the Raptor soaks it all up. It's not Cadillac-smooth–this is a truck after al≠l–but we've driven trails just like this in heavily-modified 4WD machines and, while many of them have had the wheel travel and ground clearance, rarely do they have the fine-tuned finesse of the Raptor.

As the desert opens up into a wide wash, our Raptor hits 80 mph and floats over the terrain. That speed would cripple most trucks out here, but the supple suspension takes the beating and feels remarkably stable too. High-speed desert romps are fun, but four-wheeling capability in low range requires a different set of vehicle skills. The Raptor may not have an ultralow transfer case like a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon or Dodge Power Wagon, but long-travel suspension kept the large tires in contact with the trail on one particularly hairy climb–and we crested the peak with the help of the rear locking differential.

The Bottom Line

The Raptor appears to have extraordinary off-road capability for a factory-tuned pickup truck. For those who want even more fun, a new 400-hp 6.2-liter V8 will be available after the initial Raptor launch this summer with 400 lb-ft of torque. We can't wait to slide behind the wheel of that truck.